This Video Essay Shows Just How Beautiful Moonlight Really Is

Watch a comparison between the Oscar favorite and the work of Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai.

Wong Kar-wai's 1997 film Happy Together is one of a collection of titles which are cut up and juxtaposed against scenes from Moonlight in the video above. It's a loving homage to both Kar-wai and Barry Jenkins and visual proof of the influence one has played on the other. Alessio Marinacci's compilation also includes scenes from Days of Being Wild (1990) and In the Mood For Love (2000) combining to create a showcase for the beautiful language that can only be captured in cinema.

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Moonlight cinematographer James Laxton has spoken about "a Dropbox folder full of images" featuring images from the stormy romance of Happy Together which he referenced while making the film. Similarly, when Jenkins speaks about the films of Kar-wai he could just as easily be talking about his own. "In Wong's films characters are always yearning for so many things," he says in this 2016 interview. "Often those things are attainable if those characters choose to go after them."